To date, I've made $200 on YouTube. It's not much for years of struggle (albeit a fun hobby) so I don't have any golden answers; however, I have had a few very successful videos that one can glean some insight from.
1. Utilize EVERYTHING to optimize for searches
Tags are the oft-repeated standard for making sure you show up in a search. As I've learned, every word counts when it comes to getting noticed in search results. My most popular single video was one I made for a game called Don't Move.
In total this video has 28,000 views (The image just shows a cross section). One day, months after uploading it, it just blew up. Turns out a lot of people were searching for a "walkthrough" or the "ending". I didn't utilize tags for this, it all came from the title. In other videos I've had success adding more info in the description, and of course the tags always help. Just make sure you utilize everything at your disposal while making sure everything makes sense. While showing up in searches is important, having a title like "Baby Steals From Grandma - Grandmas, Babies, Cold Hearted Thieves, video, good stuff" just looks messy. Make your title and description as informative and concise as possible.
2. Manufacture a "viral video"
This one's a bit strange. There are companies that exist to purchase and manage the rights of viral videos. Some of them offer advance payment for videos that are gaining a lot of views. In one case, I made a funny cat video (as one does when trying to create a viral hit) and I went to several forums to advertise said video. After about 1000 views I was contacted by a viral video buyer that wanted the video distribution rights.
This came with a $200 advance payment. If the video did well I would get more. If it didn't (and this one didn't) I still get to keep the $200 advance. For context, this is not included in the $200 that I said I've made off of YouTube. So all the effort I put into the other 700+ videos I've made equates to this one video in earnings. I can't say it's a little bit bittersweet. But I digress, if you can get a good idea and advertise it properly you too may be able to attract the attention of one of these buyers!
Know Your Stats
My most successful series was about a game called Pixel Piracy. Each daily video would get a consistent 100 views, which at the time was far better than any other series (still would be really, I get maybe 10 views per new video). I kept going with the series because I knew it worked. I knew it worked because statistics:
My stats at the time showed me the series was doing well. It was getting views, it was getting added to playlists and people were subscribing from the video. Other hits on my channel were found this way as well, and helped me figure out when an old video needed to be updated with annotations and links (another important aspect of YouTube that I may go over later). Just like SteemIt, it's important to know what works and what doesn't.
DON'T Put Up Junk
This one sounds obvious, but what may be more surprising is how important it is. Going back to the Pixel Piracy example, I ended up going on holidays for Christmas while that series was running. I didn't have access to my recording gear, so I pre-recorded enough for the holidays. Unfortunately, this was all very rushed and I didn't check the videos before scheduling them.
Something went wrong with the recording session (the entire session, fml) and the videos that went up over Christmas ended up killing the series. Episodes 38 and 39 were fine, but after uploading those terrible videos my fanbase completely dropped off. You should always strive to stick to a schedule with quality content.
Like any of these platforms, making good money on YouTube is near impossible; however, there's plenty of opportunity to turn it into a viable money making hobby. Sure, I've made more money in a month on SteemIt than I have my entire 5+ year YouTube career (FML) but it's still a fun little side project. The fact that it also makes up part of my SteemIt content is also kind of important.
Thanks for reading! If you found this article helpful, maybe consider donating to help the feed my cat:
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